Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Saturday, October 18, 2003

The turkeys have returned yet again! I wonder if these beautifully large and plump birds know how dangerously close its getting to Thanksgiving. I guess it doesn't matter much to me, since I don't eat meat, but I can see how they would be tempting to others. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'm thinking of hosting it this year for my Bay Area family.

I tried to get a closer picture of just the main group of turkeys, but this was the best I could get. Mind you, I took these photos frantically as I was leaving one morning for work - I ran back inside, grabbed the camera, and took the photos from my front yard.

I'm still studying. I took a small break today to go to a BBQ for one of Rudy's co-workers. But mostly, its been very diligent study. I have just a few precious weeks left, and seemingly endless little details to remind myself of.

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

I spent some well-deserved and needed time in the garden today. Most of this time was spent out front, trying to control my over-grown rose vine. (I'm confused about this plant - everyone else in the neighborhood has little .5-2 foot versions of this plant - why is mine 4 feet tall?) I know I'm not supposed to be trimming the roses back right now, but rose hips be damned! I'm having to run an obstacle course every morning just to get my car clear of the razor-sharp barbs protruding into the driveway!

Besides my overrun rose bush, I spent time pulling weeds, trimming faded blossoms, and edging the lawn. Yes, edging the lawn. That's where it ended - I ran out of trimmer cord. There's still plenty of work to do, most of it residing in the back yard. I guess it will have to wait until I figure out how to change the trimmer cord.

Saturday, October 11, 2003

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

For the past two mornings, I have been witness to two of the most bizarre incidents. Yesterday morning, as I was driving down the main road out of our development (40 MPH), I was forced to brake suddenly for a flock of wild turkey crossing the road. No longer are they scraggly poults, but now they are BIG birds! I watched in fascination as they slowly loped across the drive, crazily signaling other drivers to stop for the odd ground fowl. I'm sure my neighbors are even less enthralled with me after this most recent "turkey incident."

Then, this morning, there they were again, loping down my residential street. Now, for those of you that haven't seen a wild turkey - they are fabulously large birds. And today they were having a ball trying to jump 4 inches to reach the fruit on my neighbor's small, fruit bearing tree. To see these birds, approximately 2 1/2 feet tall each, just trotting down a regular neighborhood, and then trying to hoist their 30 lb. bodies just a few more inches was unforgettably unique. I wish I had gotten a picture!

Besides our roving gangs of large game fowl, it's been a sad few days here in the Vegetarian Accountant's garden. The Oakland A's, once again, lost their series in the first round of playoffs. This is the 4th year in a row. Rudy has placed the bobblehead dolls into the shame corner (one on each side of the TV).

We also faced a first in California - a seated governor was recalled yesterday. Out with Davis, in with Schwarzenegger. My only comment: Ha!

I am furiously studying (still) for the exam. Luckily, this week's work load is a fair deal lighter than it has been in the past months. I do have a prospective new client, though, and am wondering where this "freelance accountant" business is taking me. Between study sessions, I went out today to purchase a new cleaning product - Clorox disinfectant wipes. My initial review is that they are good for small, spot cleaning (say, perhaps before visitors arrive), but for larger jobs, they are higly ineffective and cause, in my opinion, unnecessary waste as a non-recycleable product.

Sunday, October 05, 2003

I had an excellent weekend. Although not all the projects I had planned got accomplished, I did make some headway in the garden and finally, finally my house is clean! Saturday morning I began the summer garden clean up effort. Here is a "before" picture:

I removed the zucchini and cucmber plants, tore out the bolting radish plant, and carefully removed the beans and cilantro remains. I left in the tomatoes, as they tend to do well until it gets really cold around here (December/January) and my peppers, eggplant and herbs are still working on production. I also have a volunteer tomato that sprang up a few weeks ago, so I've left it as an experiment to see if it will produce throughout the fall and winter months.

I also spent a good deal of time doing some much-needed maintenance, which included cutting back iris, cleaning off dead growth and just tidying up all the plants. For those of you who are interested, October is typically the month for splitting and re-planting spring-blooming bulbs, including crocus, daffodils, tulips and bearded iris. I divided my bulbs last year, so I held off this year.

After removing the summer plants, I was supposed to fertilize, mulch and plant cool-weather crops, but I ran out of time. Saturday evening I went into the city for a friend's birthday dinner at Buca di Beppo, a nice, family-style Italian restaurant. The food was mostly authentic, and it was a great place for a large party.

Thursday, October 02, 2003

I spent most of the day at work again. Major accomplishments today included getting the employees rallied at one of my client's businesses. The owner is often out of the country running her Spanish language retreat program, so things at the SF office are sometimes a bit disorganized. And despite some of the financial uncertaintities that the business is facing right now, I feel inspired by the enthusiasm of the employees to get together, stay focused and try to increase the cash flows (and atmosphere) of their workplace.

Home life is pretty quiet. I got home late again tonight, so there wasn't any time to survey the garden and prepare for Saturday's overhaul. We did have a nice supper tonight: Cream of Broccoli soup, garlic mashed potatoes, grillers and biscuits.

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

The dust is settling from the recent moves of two of my clients. One business, whose owner I've been acquainted with for over 3 years now, is settling in nicely and I'm especially pleased with the space they've provided me. It's a small office, but not neglected - they painted it in the same color scheme as the rest of the office and let me bring some artwork in to decorate. I haven't been able to hang it just yet, as the art director wants to decide on the "hanging height" for everything in the office, but I'm happy just to see it leaning up on my credenza. As soon as I get things in order, I'll post a photo.

Today was another long day. I spent many hours getting back in to the swing of quarter-end reporting, but I have to admit, it was fun. I'm not studying nearly as much as I think I should, but I'm realizing that perhaps just going with what life throws at you is better than constantly trying to swim against the tide.